Improvement in hoop-skirts



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

J UDAH VLEVY, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

IMPROVEMENT |N` HOOP-SKIRTS.

Specication forming-part of Letters Patent No. 47.738, dated May 16, 1865.

To aZZ whom, it may concern.-

Beit known that I, J UDAH LEVY, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have invented an Improvementin Hooped-Skirts; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

My invention consists of strips of steel or other elastic material secured to the hoop of a skirt by certain fastenings, the whole being arranged in respect to the tapes and to the loops on the same in the manner described hereinafter, so that the tapes may be maintained in their proper position on the hoops, and so that the usual wear and tear of the tapes when they are in contact with the hoops maybe obviated.

In order to enable others skilled :in the art to make my invention, I will now proceed to describe the manner of constructing the same.

On reference to the accompanying Vdrawings, which form a part of this specification, Figure l is a front `view of part of a hooped skirt, drawn to an enlarged scale and illustrat-ing my improvement; Fig. 2, a plan view of Fig. l; Fig. 3, a ver-tical section on the line l 2, Fig. 1; and Fig. 4 a view of the metal clasp as it appears before it is bent.

Similar letters refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

A represents a portion of one of the ordinary thread-covered steel hoops of a hoopskirt, and B a portion of one of the tapes which serve to connect the several hoops together. In Weaving these tapes they are made double atin tervals, so as to form hoops or folds similar 4to that shown at a., Fig. 3, the hoops passing through these loops. Wherever such a loop occurs I secure a short strip, D, of elastic materiala strip of the. thread-covered steel, for instanceand secure it to the hoop A by metal clasps E E, the strip being' on the outside of the tapes, as seen in Fig. 3. Each clasp consists of the metal plate F, cut to the form represented in Fig. 4, andis applied tothe hoop A and strip D in the manner shown in Fig. 2, the projections b b of the plate being folded round the hoop A. and the projections d dand e c round the strip l), thereby tirmly securing the latter to the hoop. This clasp is similar to those commonly used in securing the two ends of a skirt-hoop together. The body'of the tape is confined laterally between the strip D and the hoop A and longitudinally between the points x of the two clasps, the fold a of the tape passing, as before remarked, round the hoop A.

In ordinary hooped skirts, composed of thread-covered hoops, the latter simply pass through the folds of the tapes, to which they are confined by one or more metal fastenings or by stitches. Ihe tapes near the hoops are consequently pressed and rubbed against the rigid hoops by the constantly-moving dlress above the skirt, and soon become so worn that the skirt becomes useless.

The strip D with the fastening E, adapted to the hoop in the manner described, serve the twofold purpose of protecting the tape from external pressure and friction at the point Where it is in contact with the hoops and of coniining the tapes to their proper position on the hoops, the uniform regularity of the skirt being thereby maintained.

I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent-- The strip D, of steelor other elasticmaterial, secured to the hoop A by the fastenings E,or their equivalents, and arranged in respect to the tape B and its loop or fold a., as set forth, for the purpose specified.

In testimony Whereot' I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

J UDAH LEVY;

Witnesses HENRY HowsoN, J oHN WHITE. 

